Parents should be free to help their children find work, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, as a nepotism row overshadowed the launch of a new Government initiative to open up access to jobs.

Mr Clegg's new social mobility tzar James Caan faced accusations of hypocrisy for employing his two daughters, despite arguing that parents should not give children a helping hand but first allow them to attempt to carve out their own careers.

The DPM said it was not for politicians to tell mothers and fathers what to do.

Dragon's Den judge, Mr Caan insisted his daughters Jemma and Hanah were employed through a "normal process" of recruitment and were qualified for the jobs they were given.

Mr Clegg, whose financier father helped set up an internship for him at a Finnish bank at the start of his career, said it was natural for parents to want to help their children.

However, he insisted the Government was taking action to support youngsters who did not have the same opportunities.

Mr Caan appeared alongside Mr Clegg to promote the Opening Doors campaign.

More than 150 major organisations in the UK have committed to offering fair and open access to their jobs and professions for young people, regardless of background. Mr Caan suggested in interviews this week that parents should allow offspring to establish their own careers.

He said: "You are trying to develop your child too. You don't want them to feel as though they don't have to make the effort."

In a radio interview, he said it was not good to create a society "where people get jobs based on who you know rather than what you can do" but defended the decision to employ his daughters.